Music

1966, Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey of the Who grew tired of waiting for John Entwistle and Keith Moon to arrive for their gig at the Ricky Tick Club in Windsor, England so they took to the stage with the bass player and drummer of the local band that opened the show. When Moon and Entwistle finally arrived in the middle of the set, a fight broke out, with Townshend hitting Moon on the head with his guitar. Moon and Entwistle quit the band, (and rejoined a week later).

1967, The Beatles new album ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ had a special preview on the Kenny Everett BBC Light program, ‘Where It’s At’, playing every track from the album, (except ‘A Day In The Life’ which the BBC had banned saying it could promote drug taking).

1967, The Young Rascals started a two week run at No.1 on the singles chart with ‘Groovin’,

1967, Jimi Hendrix signs a U.S. record deal with Reprise Records.

1967, The No. 1 R&B single in America today is Aretha Franklin’s “Respect.” It had returned to the top of the charts after being dislodged by Martha & the Vandellas.

1967, The BBC bans the Beatles “A Day in the Life” because of its alleged references to drugs.

1968, Pete Townshend marries Karen Astley.

1968, The Beatles, armed with a bunch of new songs after their visit to India, met at George Harrison’s home in Esher, Surrey. They taped 23 new songs on George’s 4-track recorder, many of which would end up on The Beatles’ next two albums, (the White Album) and Abbey Road. The demos include: ‘Cry Baby Cry’, Revolution’, ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’, ‘Blackbird‘ and ‘Child of Nature’ (a Lennon song that became ‘Jealous Guy’).

1969, Led Zeppelin started three days of recording and mixing sessions at A&R Studios in New York City, which included the recording of Heartbreaker and various other parts for new tracks for the group’s forthcoming second album. The band were under pressure to finish sessions for their second album so they could release it in time for the Autumn market.

1970, The final feature film involving The Beatles ‘Let It Be’ was premiered simultaneously in London and Liverpool a week after the film’s US release.

1971, Peter Cetera (Chicago) was beaten up by four men at a Chicago Cubs-Dodgers baseball game. The men objected to the length of Cetera’s hair. Cetera underwent four hours of emergency surgery.

1972, T Rex were at No.1 on the UK singles chart ‘Metal Guru’, the group’s fourth and final No.1. They also had the UK No.1 album with ‘Bolan Boogie’.

1973, The Grateful Dead performed at the Stadium on the campus of the University of California at Santa Barbara.

1978, The “Saturday Night Fever” soundtrack entered the 18th week of its amazing run of 24 weeks at number one on the US album charts.

Born on this day: Joe Cocker (1944); Cher (1946); Jimmy Hendrson, Black Oak Arkansas (1954); and Jane Wieldin,  The Go-Go’s (1958)

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I feel like a trip to Jamaica today mon! We have a one hit wonder from Bobby Bloom today to start off the week.

In the early 1960s, Bloom had been a member of the doo-wop group, The Imaginations, and sang lead on “Wait A Little Longer, Son.” Bloom received a big break in 1969 when he was awarded a contract to write and record a jingle for Pepsi, paving the way for his later success with “Montego Bay.” Bloom also played a role as a songwriter connected to the Kama Sutra/Buddah group of labels.^[3] He also co-wrote the song “Mony Mony” and with Jeff Barry he co-wrote “Sunshine” by The Archies, their fifth hit single in 1970.

Bloom worked as a sound engineer for musicians such as Louis Jordan and Shuggie Otis.^[3] Bloom often recorded demos of his songs at the recording studio of MAP City Records, owned by friends Peter Anders and Vincent Poncia Jr., with chief engineer Peter H. Rosen^[4] at the controls. Early solo projects included “Love Don’t Let Me Down” and “Count on Me.”^[3]

The recordings that followed his success with “Montego Bay” in 1970, “Heavy Makes You Happy”, which became a hit for the Staple Singers in 1971, “Where Are We Going” and The Bobby Bloom Album all used the same combination of pop, calypso, and rock.^[3]

Bloom suffered from depression towards the end of his life.^[3] Bloom died on February 28, 1974, at the age of 28. He apparently shot himself while cleaning his gun.^[5] Jeff Barry was surprised to find out afterwards that he was the sole beneficiary of Bloom’s life insurance policy.^[6]

This time on The 3D RadioActivity we are playing songs from motion pictures.  Not necessarily academy award winners, you can bet the ranch that there are some grammys and other tunes of distinction, however that does not diminish the contributions of these pieces of music to the cinematic effort put forth on the silver screen.   Turn it up, we’re going to raise our voices again, as 3D Radio goes to the movies with scores from the 1950′s through the 90′s.

 Check us out on Groovy Radio, TuneIn.com and InternetFM too. There were lots of visitors this week on the Facebook page, if that was you, thanks for stopping by and please take a few moments to add some likes to the programs listed in the photos area.

Tell your friends and tune in next week for our Memorial Day tribute to those who are playing onstage in the great beyond.

If you have any ideas for our next shows please be sure to let me know. It’s easy to send an email by clicking on my name below or message me on Facebook, where you will find links to all the previous podcasts along with the graphics in the Photo section.

…Uncle Marty

“It’s not true I had nothing on, I had the radio on.”

— Marilyn Monroe

Every so often, when I’m jonesin’ for some ‘50s rockabilly or some good old rock ‘n’ roll, I need not look any further than Rhino’s exceptional Loud Fast & Out Of Control: The Wild Sounds Of The ‘50s box set. The set was compiled by Gary Stewart, James Austin and Bill Inglot and released in 1999. Its 104 tracks are a comprehensive and enjoyable survey of the late ‘50s rockabilly scene including prime cuts by everyone including Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, Johnny Burnette, Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Fats Domino, Chuck Berry, and dozens of others. While the hits are well represented, it’s the many rarer picks and one hit wonders that steal the show. I listened to the 4-CD Rhino box in its entirety the other day, and today’s Song Of The Day is one of the gems that caught my ear.

Boo Walke & The Rockets were a 1950s Rockabilly group from Virginia who changed their name to The Rock-A-Teens and found fleeting fame with their sole hit record. Their lineup included Vic Mizelle on vocals and guitar, Bobby “Boo” Walke on guitar, Bill Cook on guitar, Eddie Robinson on sax, Paul Dixon on bass and Bill Smith on drums.

They auditioned for a Virginia record shop owner named George Donald McGraw with their song called “Rock-A-Teen Boogie” which when released on McGraw’s Doran record label was renamed “Woo Hoo.” The song, plus its B-Side, “Untrue” were recorded in the back room of McGraw’s record store in one day.

When the record was first released in 1959, the Rock-A-Teens were listed on the record as the song’s writers.  Arthur ‘Guitar Boogie’ Smith recognized elements of his own songwriting and sued the group for plagiarism, and McGraw settled out of court by purchasing the song’s copyright for a few hundred dollars in order to avoid a court case. Meanwhile, McGraw was wheeling and dealing on the group’s behalf and cut a deal with infamous music industry legend and alleged mobster Morris Levy, who released the record on his Roulette label with the writing credits on both sides of the record given to McGraw. Such was the stuff of 1950s rock ‘n’ roll.

The Roulette single spent 12-weeks on the charts and peaked at #16.  Based on the success of the single, Roulette pulled the group into the studio to record their sole album.  The Woo Hoo album (Roulette SR-25109) was said to have been a raw garage rock record that edged on punk rock, probably because Mizelle and Walke had to teach Cook and Dixon how to play their instruments in the studio.

The album was a dismal flop on the charts, but is now an in-demand collectable today. By 1960, it was all over and the group hung up their rock ‘n’ roll shoes never to be heard from again.

The song was covered by The 5.6.7.8’s and used to great effect in the Quentin Tarentino film Kill Bill.

Thanks to the Black Cat Rockabilly Europe website for information for this article.

1973, Stevie Wonder went to No.1 on the singles chart with ‘You Are The Sunshine Of My Life’. His third No.1,

1973, Paul Simon released the single ‘Kodachrome’ which became a hit in the US, but was banned from airplay in the UK because it contained a brand name.

1974, The Grateful Dead performed at the Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon.

1976, Rolling Stone Keith Richards crashed his car near Newport Pagnell, Bucks, after falling asleep at the wheel; marijuana and cocaine were found by the police resulting in another fine for the guitarist.

1978, Dire Straits released their first major label single ‘Sultans Of Swing’.

 

1979, Eric Clapton held a party at his Surrey house celebrating his recent marriage to Patti Boyd. Clapton had set-up a small stage in the garden and as the evening progressed Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr ended up jamming together along with Clapton, Ginger Baker and Mick Jagger. The all-star band ran through old Little Richard and Eddie Cochran songs.

1979, Supertramp went to No.1 on the album chart with ‘Breakfast In America’, the group’s only No.1.

1984, Bob Marley and the Wailers started a 12-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with the compilation album ‘Legend’, released to commemorate the third anniversary of Marley’s death.

 

Born on this day:  Pete Townshend (1945); Tom Scott, saxophonist (1946); Dusty Hill, ZZ Top (1949); Grace Jones and Joey Ramone (1952)

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